22:3
Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and a
righteousness, and deliver him that is laid waste out of the hand of the
oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor
the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
(a) This was his ordinary manner of preaching
before the kings from Josiah to Zedekiah which was about forty years.
22:5 But if ye will not hear
these words, I b swear by myself, saith
the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
(b) Showing that there is no one greater than he
is, (Hebrews
6:13) and that he will most certainly perform his oath.
22:6 For thus saith the LORD to the king's house
of Judah; Thou [art] c Gilead to me,
[and] the head of Lebanon: [yet] surely I will make thee a wilderness, [and]
cities [which] are not inhabited.
(c) He compares Jerusalem to Gilead which was
beyond Jordan and the beauty of Judea to Lebanon.
22:7 And I will d
prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut
down thy choice e cedars, and cast
[them] into the fire.
(d) The Hebrew word signifies to sanctify because
the Lord dedicates to his use and purpose such as he prepares to execute his
work, (Isaiah
13:3; Jeremiah
6:4,12:3).
(e) Your buildings made from cedar trees.
22:8f And
many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his
neighbour, Why hath the LORD done thus to this great city?
(f) As they who wonder at a thing which they
thought would never have come to pass, (Deuteronomy
29:24; 1 Kings
9:8).
22:10 Weep ye not for the
dead, neither bemoan him: [but] weep bitterly for him g
that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
(g) Signifying that they would lose their king:
for Jehoiachin went forth to meet Nebuchadnezzar and yielded himself, and was
carried into Babylon, (2 Kings
24:12).
22:11 For thus saith the LORD concerning h
Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his
father, who went forth from this place; He shall not return there any more:
(h) Whom some think to be Jehoiachin and that
Josiah was his grandfather: but it seems this was Jehoiakim, as in (Jeremiah
22:18).
22:13 Woe to him that
buildeth his house by i unrighteousness,
and his chambers by wrong; [that] useth his neighbour's service without wages,
and giveth him not for his work;
(i) By bribes and extortion.
22:15 Shalt thou reign,
because thou closest [thyself] in cedar? did not thy k
father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, [and] then [it was] well with
him?
(k) Meaning Josiah, who was not given to ambition
and superfluity, but was content with mediocrity, and only delighted in
setting forth God's glory, and to do justice to all.
22:18
Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of
Judah; They shall not lament for l him,
[saying], Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, [saying],
Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
(l) For everyone will have enough to lament for
himself.
22:19 He shall be m
buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of
Jerusalem.
(m) Not honourably among his fathers, but as
carrion are cast in a hole, because their stink should not infect, read (1 Kings
14:10). Josephus writes that the enemy slew him in the city and commanded
him to be cast before the walls unburied, see (Jeremiah
36:30).
22:20 Go up to n
Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in o
Bashan, and cry from the passes: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
(n) To call to the Assyrians for help.
(o) For this was the way out of India to Assyria,
by which is meant that all help would fail: for the Chaldeans have subdued
both them and the Egyptians.
22:22 The wind shall eat up
all thy shepherds, p and thy lovers
shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for
all thy wickedness.
(p) Both your governors and they that would help
you will vanish away as wind.
22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy
nest in the q cedars, how gracious shalt
thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
(q You that are built of the fair cedar trees of Lebanon.
22:24 [As] I live, saith the LORD, though r
Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand,
yet would I pluck thee from there;
(r) Who was called Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, whom
he calls here Coniah in contempt who thought his kingdom could never depart
from him, because he came of the stock of David, and therefore for the promise
sake could not be taken from his house, but he abused God's promise and
therefore was justly deprived of the kingdom.
22:29
O s earth, earth, earth, hear the word
of the LORD.
(s) He shows that all posterity will be witnesses
of his just plague, as though it were registered for perpetual memory.
22:30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this t
man childless, a man [that] shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his
seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in
Judah.
(t) Not that he had no children (for later he
begat Salathiel in the captivity, (Matthew
1:12)) but that none would reign after him as king.
Jeremiah 22 Bible Commentary
The Geneva Study Bible
(a) This was his ordinary manner of preaching before the kings from Josiah to Zedekiah which was about forty years.
22:5 But if ye will not hear these words, I b swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
(b) Showing that there is no one greater than he is, (Hebrews 6:13) and that he will most certainly perform his oath.
22:6 For thus saith the LORD to the king's house of Judah; Thou [art] c Gilead to me, [and] the head of Lebanon: [yet] surely I will make thee a wilderness, [and] cities [which] are not inhabited.
(c) He compares Jerusalem to Gilead which was beyond Jordan and the beauty of Judea to Lebanon.
22:7 And I will d prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice e cedars, and cast [them] into the fire.
(d) The Hebrew word signifies to sanctify because the Lord dedicates to his use and purpose such as he prepares to execute his work, (Isaiah 13:3; Jeremiah 6:4,12:3).
(e) Your buildings made from cedar trees.
22:8 f And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Why hath the LORD done thus to this great city?
(f) As they who wonder at a thing which they thought would never have come to pass, (Deuteronomy 29:24; 1 Kings 9:8).
22:10 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: [but] weep bitterly for him g that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
(g) Signifying that they would lose their king: for Jehoiachin went forth to meet Nebuchadnezzar and yielded himself, and was carried into Babylon, (2 Kings 24:12).
22:11 For thus saith the LORD concerning h Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth from this place; He shall not return there any more:
(h) Whom some think to be Jehoiachin and that Josiah was his grandfather: but it seems this was Jehoiakim, as in (Jeremiah 22:18).
22:13 Woe to him that buildeth his house by i unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; [that] useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
(i) By bribes and extortion.
22:15 Shalt thou reign, because thou closest [thyself] in cedar? did not thy k father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, [and] then [it was] well with him?
(k) Meaning Josiah, who was not given to ambition and superfluity, but was content with mediocrity, and only delighted in setting forth God's glory, and to do justice to all.
22:18 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for l him, [saying], Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, [saying], Ah lord! or, Ah his glory!
(l) For everyone will have enough to lament for himself.
22:19 He shall be m buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
(m) Not honourably among his fathers, but as carrion are cast in a hole, because their stink should not infect, read (1 Kings 14:10). Josephus writes that the enemy slew him in the city and commanded him to be cast before the walls unburied, see (Jeremiah 36:30).
22:20 Go up to n Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in o Bashan, and cry from the passes: for all thy lovers are destroyed.
(n) To call to the Assyrians for help.
(o) For this was the way out of India to Assyria, by which is meant that all help would fail: for the Chaldeans have subdued both them and the Egyptians.
22:22 The wind shall eat up all thy shepherds, p and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
(p) Both your governors and they that would help you will vanish away as wind.
22:23 O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the q cedars, how gracious shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail!
(q You that are built of the fair cedar trees of Lebanon.
22:24 [As] I live, saith the LORD, though r Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee from there;
(r) Who was called Jehoiachin or Jeconiah, whom he calls here Coniah in contempt who thought his kingdom could never depart from him, because he came of the stock of David, and therefore for the promise sake could not be taken from his house, but he abused God's promise and therefore was justly deprived of the kingdom.
22:29 O s earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
(s) He shows that all posterity will be witnesses of his just plague, as though it were registered for perpetual memory.
22:30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this t man childless, a man [that] shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.
(t) Not that he had no children (for later he begat Salathiel in the captivity, (Matthew 1:12)) but that none would reign after him as king.